Harvey Weinstein drama and 4 other James Corden controversies as he leaves the Late Late Show

British TV presenter James Corden hosted his final episode of The Late Late Show on Friday, April 28, after playing its host for eight long years. The 44-year-old's exit was fairly grand with a series of appearances from many well-known glamorous guests.

There was quite a bit of noise around Corden's farewell, considering that he was one of the most popular talk show hosts currently alongside being a widely known comic actor.

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James Corden became widely known in the US following his appearance on the popular TV show Gavin & Stacey. Following that, he went on to become a familiar face in Hollywood and appeared in several well-known movies, becoming close to top actors in the industry.

However, despite his popular work and close ties with influential members of the film industry, Corden has been associated with several controversies throughout his career -- ranging from his offensive jokes to disrespectful behavior towards co-workers. A lot of such controversies were also witnessed live on television, making it even more awkward.

The most popular James Corden controversies

1) The distasteful Harvey Weinstein jokes

Corden on the Late Late Show (Image via Twitter)

In 2017, when several women began coming out with their harrowing experiences of assault and abuse by the then-renowned producer Harvey Weinstein, the situation in Hollywood was quite sensitive. The victims were shamed and their experiences were dismissed. Amidst the stress, James Corden made some jokes about the accusations at a black-tie charity event in Los Angeles.

He said as part of a series of jokes he had planned:

“It has been weird this week hasn’t it, watching Harvey Weinstein in hot water. Ask any of the women who watched him take a bath … it’s weird watching Harvey Weinstein in hot water,"

This was just one of the many jokes that included references to the accusations against Weinstein.

Post the event, Rose McGowan and Asia Argento, both of whom accused Weinstein of assault, expressed their disappointment upon hearing the jokes. Corden then posted an apology and stated that he never intended to dismiss anyone's experience. However, the incident did remain one of his most infamous and distasteful deeds.

2) The joke-stealing accusations

While many popular comedians are known to be stealing the work of smaller, less famous comedians, James Corden was accused of stealing a rather popular comic piece when he tried to make fun of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. The TV presenter's jokes were found to be extremely similar to those written by Ricky Gervais years ago.

While the comparisons between the two pieces didn't take long to become sensational on the internet, Gervais too seemed to join the conversation as he posted a clip of his own piece alongside Corden's allegedly stolen one. However, he also suggested that it could be someone from the presenter's team who wrote it as Corden is unlikely to copy such a famous piece willingly. Gervais then deleted the tweet after expressing that he felt sorry for Corden.

In another similar incident, Andy Cohen also accused James Corden of stealing a set-piece, strengthening the suspicion that he plagiarizes quite frequently.

3) When he was accused of rude behavior on a Reddit AMA

The Ask-Me-Anything on Reddit has become a popular phenomenon in the past few years through which even the most popular seemingly inaccessible celebrities have found a way to interact with fans. In one such session in which Corden announced to interact with his fans without any boundaries, things went terribly out of control as several people began accusing him of rude and disrespectful behavior.

Corden openly asked his followers to ask him anything they wanted to without filtering anything out. Out of the 700 comments that appeared in the thread, most were negative, with people calling him all sorts of names such as a 'rude a**hole.' Many others also defended such accusations by mentioning their experiences in the comments.

4) Accusations of the 'gayface'

Among other things, Corden is also accused of being extremely stereotypical and nearly homophobic in his impression of gay men. In Ryan Murphy's Netflix musical, The Prom, James Corden played an ailing gay Broadway star. The role was allegedly full of stereotypes and offensive humor, making the comedy also very distasteful.

Many critics suggested that the portrayal was overly animated and almost derogatory, making the portrayal the center of controversy on social media platforms at the time in 2020. Corden's offensive humor, which was already under a lot of scrutiny at the time, was criticized a lot more after this.

5) The Balthazar scandal

The allegations of his disrespectful behavior towards waiting staff and others who worked with him were further made believable in 2022 when a restaurant called Balthazar banned Corden from entering the premuses owing to distasteful behavior towards the staff. The owner also called Corden the most disrespectful customer they've ever had.

The ban was lifted a little after Corden is said to have acknowledged the behavior and apologized for it. That, however, didn't change the impression among the audience that he is not as fun a person as he seems on television.

James Corden's announcement that he would be leaving the Late Late Show came quite suddenly despite his falling popularity. He also cited the need for family time as one of the reasons for departing from the show.

Edited by Abhipsa Choudhury